Syngas may be produced using a gasification process in which a carbonaceous fuel source such as coal reacts with oxygen within a gasifier. The carbonaceous fuel source may include a coal slurry in which coal particles are dispersed within a liquid. The presence of the liquid within the slurry, however, may reduce the overall energy content of the syngas produced per unit weight of feed. The slurry therefore may be concentrated to remove a percentage of the liquid therein. Traditional equipment used to increase the slurry concentration includes device such as settlers, vacuum bed filters, agitators, pumps, thickeners, holding tanks, collection tanks, and the like with multiple rotating elements. The use of these parasitic devices may reduce plant availability and increase overall complexity.
There is thus a desire for improved systems and methods for concentrating coal water slurry before use. Preferably such systems and methods may provide such concentration with more reliability and less operating costs as compared to known devices with multiple rotating elements.